Rob MacKillop

Keep up the good work, Gareth! I'm still on page 31, but taking them round the cycle from memory. My brain trips up sometimes, getting confused between tonal harmony and alternating I-V harmony. In for example the key of C, tonal harmony has the G7 on the V chord - no surprise there! So I find myself scratching my head sometimes when the G bass is instead a I chord, and the 4th and 6th notes of the key are both a V7 chord. LOL. I keep forgetting, of course, that these shapes are for over a static chord, and therefore the Tonal rules do not apply. Looking ahead, I see Chapter 2 might shed some light on all of this, but I'll wait until I'm comfortable with the various shapes over a static chord before launching into it.

Started on page 31, memorizing the V7b9 patterns in situations, then going round the cycle of keys. Good to have a little dissonance in there, and of course the moveable dim7 shape.

I’ll have to check, but I think there’s a chapter on that later on, Gareth. Have a look.

Welcome aboard, nekomatic! I’m not moving very fast, so you should catch up with me soon. I’m trying not to race ahead, as I often do with books. This stuff I want to embed.

Well, that’s great news, Gareth. Get them while young 😀 Between you and Danny, he’s in good hands. Keep us posted.

It's an honor to have you here, Danny! And now that I know you are tuning in, the more I'll have to practice! Regarding So What, being primarily a guitar player, I initially improvised over it with the three minor pentatonics and minor blues scales in C Major. The blue notes add some interesting dissonance. So I see a minor chord - especially a static one - as an opportunity to explore a variety of related minor modes and scales. That d#/eb in the A Minor Blues scale works if the general flow allows it, likewise the a#/bflat in the E Minor Blues scale. I haven't yet been so free with my bass playing, but I guess there's no reason why these things wouldn't work in context?

I've just put myself to the test over So What and Footprints, and became somewhat depressed that things didn't flow as I had expected. Occasionally I got the patterns to work, but they threw me out here and there. More time playing to backing tracks is required. Sometimes the #7 sounded ok, when thinking or hearing horizontally rather than vertically. Looks like it's just you and me, Gareth...oh well.

Thanks, folks.

Yes, I recognise what he did for the electric bass, but like he said he played it as a toy. On the acoustic upright…something else!

Thanks, itu. So much to explore!

Well, that’s kind of what we are doing with Topics Vol 1. But you could start a similar Study Group focussed on Low Down Volume 1? On the other hand, I’m not sure we have enough forum members interested enough to sustain either group. Maybe just one Study Group focused on Walking Bass would be the way forward. What do you think? And do you have a name other than spearminthideous we could call you?

Thanks, itu. Sounds interesting.

That’s a good approach. Keep up the good work!

Maybe he covered it in the first text paragraph to Ex. 5a, when he says “The V7 chord…pivots between both major and minor tonalities”? If that’s what he meant, I think a little clarification was called for. Anyway, I’m playing the examples on pages 18/19. It’s annoying how I can read quite fluently on the 4-string, but occasionally get completely lost with the addition of the 5th string, even though I’m not playing it! Oh well, I’ve only had the 5-string for a week.

I see what you mean about Ex.6. Not sure about the proof-reading oversight, as under bar 3 there is an i for minor, and a capital I under bar 4 for Major. So he seems to mean a mixture of minor and major chords. I agree, it IS confusing! The G Major in bar 4 lies between two D7 chords, so he might be saying ‘in such instances you could play change to major when in a minor key, and maybe change to minor when in a major key’? But you think he would have addressed that in his comments!